Sadly while I was excited to read this, the recent discourse with the author has turned me off to this. The handling of the discourse online by the author felt very chaotic and messy and ultimately, feels like a reflection of this book itself in that the love triangle referenced in the authors social media is barely a whisper if even that within the book. The romance feels unsettling and also quite dry. The author’s comp to The Darkling feels very lazy instead of feeling like this offers something new and fresh to a genre severely oversatured with the enemies to lovers trope.

I will not be continuing with the series as I didn’t feel there was enough to keep this at the forefront of my mind and lacked characters I felt I wanted to invest my time with.

Goodreads reviews are locked at this time - will add review when unlocked
Will not feature on Instagram besides Stories because of low rating
Will discuss in Youtube's March Reads pt 2
Blog Post goes live April 5th


**TL;DR**: I did not enjoy this. From the choppy, redundant writing to the VERY suspicious romance. This was not well thought out or edited.

**Longer TL;DR with theory:** I have a theory. This either initially meant to be a Shatter Me style story where in fact our Roman Prince WAS the love interest and he’s meant to truly be good. This is absolutely disgusting as the things he did were inhuman, cruel, and gross. Not to mention the author herself drew a parallel between the Romans and Unit 731 from WWII. I genuinely hope this is NOT the case, but I suspect it might have been. The other part of my theory/my prediction for this based on the swerve in marketing from enemies-to-lover to childhood-friends-to-lovers is that the second book in this series is abruptly going to turn to her romancing her ‘traitor’ of a best friend from childhood. This could be setup as a ACOTAR style change in romance or could be pitched as ‘this was meant to be a love triangle’. Either way, this is a mess.

I’m sincerely hoping my year has been frontloaded with 1 and 2 star books because this is getting out of hand. I had very high hopes for To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods but sadly they were dashed on the rocky shores of ‘toxic romance’ and ‘nothing but angry’.

This one has a fairly standard story, especially for this type of Young Adult/New Adult leaning Fantasy with romance. Our main character Ruying can kill people, her power over death allows her to pull the life force from someone and kill them. She is quietly living her life, attempting to not use her power while her people and country are colonized and persecuted by the Romans. The Romans (exactly who they sound like, just more technologically advanced) have also brought Opian (Opium) and use it to control the masses. Ruying spends the first 35-45% of the book telling us over and over how terrible and cruel the Romans are. Which yes, I agree with. However we get only brief moments of worldbuilding, of any character besides Ruying has no more depth than a sheet of paper and absolutely nothing else besides her rage marks her out as different.

After the 45% mark she is given a job by a Roman prince and the book seemingly becomes an Enemies-to-Lovers romance. He is the prince of the Romans, the people who are subjugating her own and he is blackmailing her into working for him - and there is a romance between them. I was very uncomfortable here, but it got worse as the ‘twist’ at the end showed him to be *even worse* and yet she was genuinely just upset that he lied to her. In fact she was told, no less than three times, what he was doing but she chose to ignore it. I’m not going to specify but you can find it easily by searching up Unit 731 which the book itself notes as inspiration.

While this is happening the writing itself is dragging us down. Choppy, repetitive with far too much of the same thing said over and over in every possible way. I did not enjoy the writing, and I especially did not enjoy the VERY uncomfortable romance. And I was again, extremely uncomfortable here. Especially when taken in reflection on the author’s ‘inspiration’ in Unit 731 and the very real war crimes and heinous acts inflicted on the real life victims of their crimes.

1 out of 5 stars

Normally I don’t DNF books this fast but the writing was not for me. It was choppy, too full of dramatic prose. I understand the use of figurative language but when one whole page of the book consists of 70% figurative language it’s quite confusing.
The author jumped back and forth between trauma dumping, random inner monologue and descriptions of things around her. She contradicted herself a few times painting the narrator as unreliable.

I was quite excited for this book and I’m very bummed about this but if a prose is trying to hard I can’t look past it and it will only anger me to continue to read.


I attempted to do a Goodreads review to attach however Goodreads is not allowing people to review this book.

I want to start by saying that I'm very conflicted by this book. Some parts were very interesting and intriguing, the world and setting of the story are two examples. While other parts made me uncomfortable. And not in the sense that you’re not supposed to be comfortable with the colonization of an entire world of people way, but in the romance in this book is not sitting right with me kind of way.

Truthfully, I feel like this book would have been a better read if the stockholm romance subplot had been left out of the story entirely. Instead, the author should have focused on helping make Ruying into a strong character through other means of storytelling. Perhaps her growing and becoming stronger by fighting against the things she was being forced to do in the little ways she was able. Forming her own personal resistance to help her people instead of just being a willing participant. Learning about the people that she was being forced to kill and why they were so important that they needed to be removed from the playing field. Or just opening her own eyes to what she was really helping to do long before she had to be forced to see it.

I just feel like if she had used all the rage from her sister and grandmothers’ lessons earlier on and rebelled in small ways it would have made for a more compelling story than the will they/won’t they romance that was pushed on us instead.

There were some errors that should have been caught in editing, nothing to terrible – just a few lines here and there that I had to reread a couple of times and reword them myself so they would make sense and I could continue with the story.

Just a random side note - Using what seemed to be a fantasy world but introducing Romans as the villains who came in from the sky was a bit confusing. I almost wished the author would have just made up a fictional name for the invaders and instead pointed out the differences through storytelling. Though I understand the point it was making, it still just took me out of the story sometimes as my mind kept imagining the characters from Gladiator as the bad guys. So, the entirety of the book I kept imagining them walking around looking like ancient Rome Commodus only for them to then be described wearing ties and other modern-day clothing.

I’m very torn on how to rate this one. On one hand I enjoyed the world building and the overall story the author was trying to tell. But on the other hand, the unnecessary romance kind of killed my excitement for the story overall. Hopefully the author accepts some of the criticism that they’ve received regarding the romance, and it’s fixed in future books.

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

**I received a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

When I was initially sent this ebook, I was really excited to give this it a read, and I'm kind of conflicted about how it struck me. There were some interesting high points, but some confusing lows. The premise was really intriguing, especially after I read the Author's note at the beginning of the ebook. I think this book had a noble, respectable goal, but ultimately, it ended up feeling like it strayed in a different direction. I've glanced at other reviews to try and put into words what about this exactly made me uncomfortable, and I have to agree with the feedback that I saw. I'm aware that Ruying's situation is meant to be difficult, that she's making hard choices, but this felt a little bit too close to romanticizing colonizer's and their hold over oppressed people. It felt as though the author wasn't doing this intentionally, because of the ending, but for a good bit, there, I did feel sort of uncomfortable about the turn the book was taking. Part of this could be reader understanding on my part, but after seeing other people's reviews, I'm less inclined to believe that.

I know this was touted as an "enemies-to-lovers" book, and normally, I really do enjoy that particular trope in stories, but I just didn't really connect with the main love interest that the reader is meant to care about. The entire time I was thinking "...but why him, though?" That could just be a me thing. Ultimately, I enjoyed the style of the novel - the imagery in particular was gorgeous - but bits of the book did feel a little long-winded/repetitive - in the grand scheme of things, that's a minor note for me compared to the larger issue I discussed above.

Tl;dr - This book has issues. It wasn't the worst, but it wasn't the best either.

I got about a third of the way in and then realized this was probably a colonizer romance, and I’m not interested in reading that.

I also felt that the pacing was a bit slow for my taste. I like a really plot heavy book, and at 31% it felt like the plot was still being set up.

I imagine that if I finished the book I would rate it no more than 3 stars, so that is the rating I have given it on this review.

As I did not finish this book, I will not be reviewing it on Instagram or Amazon.

Thank you Del Rey and Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I've seen a lot of discourse around this novel and I would like to hold off on addressing it as I am a white woman and this is book one of a series.

The political intrigue really hooked me in. I also *believe* the enemies to lovers in this one is between childhood friends not the colonizer but time shall tell. We have a really interesting magic system that I've yet to see before and I truly enjoyed Ruying. I am excited to see where the story takes her.

This book unfortunately really did not work for me. Everything from the world-building to the character development, to the actual line level writing need significantly more editing. This writing felt like it was trying to be overly flowery and metaphorical, but it made the reading process a slog to get through and some of the metaphors did not make sense. There was also a lot of grammar and typo errors. The world feels extremely underdeveloped. I did not get a good sense of place, and all of the side characters felt inconsequential. It did not feel like a real world with real people in it. Ruying and Antony are the only characters that we really spend any time with, and they also feel underdeveloped, I think perhaps I understand what the author was trying to do with this book in terms of commenting on colonialism, but I think the execution was so poorly done that it has the opposite effect that intended. Whether or not this is a colonizer romance is a bit of a nuanced question, but I don't necessarily disagree with those calling this book one.

Unfortunately, this is a DNF (50%) for me. It was a struggle to feel invested in any of the characters and especially the MC and the plot felt so slow and I was pushing myself to even get halfway.

I had high hopes for this book since I really liked the premise of the fantasy mixed with roman colonizer plot. It sounded super interesting but something about the romans coming through a portal into their fantasy world felt like there was a bit of a disconnect - the two didn't really mess together well and maybe because the world building didn't feel fleshed out enough.

I think if you like The Poppy Wars or Shatter Me, you'll like To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods. This book definitely lives in the morally grey and depicts Ruying as a character who is really stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Before Ruying was born, Romans from another world ripped a portal in the sky and invaded her world. Even though Ruying's people have magic, the Romans have science and weapons. For decades, Rome has kept their boot on the neck of her world and kept her people down by flooding the streets with opium. When Ruying is coerced into being an assassin by one of Rome's princes, she finds herself in a difficult position. She uses her powers to kill for Prince Antony and begins to believe some of his lies, that he is the lesser evil and really wants peace.

There were things I liked about this book and several things I almost hated. Let's talk about the good. I thought the brutal reality of colonization was wonderfully done, and I loved the alternate history of Rome not only being a superpower but powerful enough to punch holes in worlds. Oh, and I loved Antony as a character; he very easily represents a White Savior. Even when Ruying tries to object or show the evil of his actions, he always defends his actions with "the greater good" because he never really sees her people or world as anything more than resources. He's the most realistic type of villain.

Now what I didn't love, first, I thought the characters were all a little thin. Even Ruying as our main character didn't feel fleshed out enough for me. It wasn't until the last 25% of the book that I got a real sense of any motivation for any of the characters (beyond Ruying wanting to save her family). I thought it would have been interesting if Ruying would have been using her position of power to learn more about her own gift, but instead she just murders and relaxes, I guess. It's like she doesn't want to help herself. The writing was also incredibly repetitive. The same turn of phrase was used over and over.

I would be interested in the next book to see if the characters and writing get better. This was a quick read with an interesting plot; it just needed more oomph.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I was immediately sucked in to this book. I felt like the world building was there. The lore was there. Everything was there for me. The story was told in a more stream-of-consciousness style, which became especially obvious towards the end as Ruying becomes increasingly conflicted with her decision to be Antony’s assassin, causing her internal monologues to become extremely repetitive.

I went into this book, as I do most that I read, completely blind. Now having seen some of the critiques of this as a colonizer romance, I can see where those opinions come from, but I also struggle to not see this as a fairly obvious case of Stockholm syndrome. She was kidnapped and left in a solitary cell with an infected wound. This prince (who could easily kill her, her family and anyone she has ever cared about) puts on a show pretending to be her savior, offering her a path to the life she has always dreamed/wished of being possible. She struggles with believing this throughout the whole book. Every repetition of a thought is Ruying trying to convince herself. She does a pretty good job. She had me almost convinced that maybe Antony was at least a little genuine until we got the chapter in his POV. Ruying has been through an INCREDIBLE amount of trauma. Even though Antony swears he will protect her family even if she were to die, she knows that he could just as easily go back on that. He holds everything she cares about in his hands. He has so much power over her, of course she gives in. She says she’s a coward MULTIPLE times in this book. Baihu showing her Antony’s lab, and the “experiments” (torture) carried out there seems to finally be the moment she wakes up. The ending of this novel seemed to be fairly clear to me that she has removed the wool from her eyes and intends try and ACTUALLY save her homeland.

Overall I did really enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" by Molly X Chang is a spellbinding tale of magic, intrigue, and moral dilemmas that will keep readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish.

Set in a world torn apart by war and conquest, the story follows Ruying, a young woman blessed—or cursed—with the power over death itself. As the daughter of a conquered people, Ruying harbors deep-seated resentment towards the foreign invaders who have oppressed her homeland. Yet, when an enemy prince offers her a dangerous bargain—become his private assassin in exchange for her family's safety—Ruying must confront her own fears and desires in order to protect those she loves.

Chang weaves a complex narrative filled with twists and turns, as Ruying navigates a treacherous world where alliances are fragile and betrayal lurks around every corner. The moral ambiguity of Ruying's choices adds depth to the story, forcing readers to grapple with questions of loyalty, sacrifice, and the greater good.

But it's not just the gripping plot that makes "To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" a standout read—it's also the richly drawn characters and lush world-building. From the enigmatic prince with his seductive promises to the colorful cast of political rivals and allies, each character leaps off the page with vibrant personality and depth.

With its breathtaking prose and thrilling plot twists, "To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods" is a must-read for fans of fantasy and adventure. Chang's masterful storytelling will leave readers eagerly anticipating the next installment in this captivating series.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods follows Ruying, gifted with the power of Death. Ruying can kill without a trace. When she accidentally draws the attention of the oppressors, the Romans, she is forced to reveal her powers. Ruying must work for Prince Anthony to protect her family, although Ruying’s power comes with a deadly price. As revolution bubbles beneath the surface of the city, Ruying must decide whether she will serve the oppressors or her people.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a page-turner! This is an adventurous and complex book. Molly X. Chang pulls no punches and parts of the book are quite dark. Ruying definitely made a lot of morally gray choices and was not always a likable character, but she had very few options. I wish we had seen Ruying come to the realizations that she had about Anthony earlier in the book. Anthony was my least-favorite character and I hope to see his actions catch up with him. I couldn’t stand the “romance” between Ruying and Anthony, nor do I think I was supposed to. The world-building was extensive, but initially felt overwhelming. I do think the prose improved as the book went on. I think book two could be excellent, especially if Ruying is able to get revenge on Anthony and the Romans for all their lies, coercion, and betrayals. Molly X. Chang is definitely an author to watch!

Thank you to Molly X. Chang, Del Rey, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to enjoy this but it was a miss. The writing was extremely repetitive. I’m not trying to dismiss what Ruying was going through but after the third time within the first few chapters I was honestly going to DNF. The symbolism was a nice touch the writing beautiful but not every single movement didn’t need to be referenced to one. And the romance. I was so frustrated by this and honestly didn’t understand the need to be there besides a possibly plot point.

Overall will wait to hear reviews for the next installment before reading.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Ruying has lived her entire life under the occupation of the Romans who invaded her world over 20 years ago. The people of Ruying’s world are sometimes born with special abilities, such as super human strength or healing. Ruying discovered her ability to essentially rip the life out of people, meaning she has dominion over death magic. Her magic catches the attention of the princes of Rome, who kidnap her in the middle of the night. Ruying then must bargain with one of the princes to keep her family safe. As she becomes an assassin for the Romans, Ruying finds herself drawn to the prince, yet with the constant threat of war and rebellion, she must pick a side.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods faced some controversy as I was reading and writing up this review. As a white person, I don’t really have the ability to say whether or not this was a proper colonizer romance, but according to reviewers that read this, they have described it as such. Please look into the triggers and reviews from readers of color before delving into this. In my opinion, however, is that the book is marketed poorly. I didn’t necessarily find that the romance was enemies to lovers as initially marketed. I also never felt sympathy towards Antony, the colonizer, and actually hated him and his kingdom throughout the entire book. I saw Ruying’s attraction to him as a desperate way to keep herself sane whilst committing atrocities, and while reading I always kept Antony at arm’s length. I didn’t trust him; he was incredibly manipulative, cruel, and selfish. Sure, towards the end it appears Antony beings to develop serious feelings for Ruying, but when Ruying discovers the extent of his war crimes, she promptly begins working toward assisting the rebellion. I don’t think the romance ever developed past initial attraction, and I believe we see this with Ruying’s quick betrayal. This book is a heavy read in terms of how triggering it can be. The author took inspiration from her family’s experience with Unit 731, and the effect on the story was gut wrenching. We all know humans are capable of horrendous things, but these atrocities are of their own category. As someone who is not directly or indirectly effected by Unit 731, I cannot speak on if using it as inspiration was wrong - but many people who have been effected have spoken out about how they don’t condone the author using it in her book. I think To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a decent fantasy debut and I will most likely keep reading the series, but please make sure to do your research before reading it.

Thank you to Del Rey and Molly X. Chang for sending me an early copy, I’m leaving this review voluntarily.

I want to start out by saying that I really wanted to love this. I loved the author’s note at the beginning and how she tied in stories that her grandfather would tell her into the story and world she created. However, I had a hard time getting through the book which was incredibly disappointing. It felt like every other sentence was a metaphor or some sort of introspection and that as readers, we were more stuck in Ruying’s inner monologue instead of her story. I felt like her motivations weren’t truly driving her actions. The worldbuilding was confusing and not well fleshed out, and there was so much repetition that it felt like Chang had little trust in her readers to pick up on what was important. I love a good morally grey character and romance, but I could not find it in me to root for Ruying and Antony. Because of the marketing of this book, I did think I was part of the target audience and was left feeling very underwhelmed by this story.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! I know there are some valid criticisms about this being a "colonizer romance" but I didn't think the romance was portrayed in a way that was positive. Like Ruying, I was conflicted on which side was the right one. The author did a compelling job in creating high stakes for whichever side Ruying did pick.

One of the author’s strengths is the ability to write complex morally gray characters. Ruying is what I would describe as a reluctant hero. She wants to avoid using her gift to kill people, but is pushed to do so to protect her family, even if they do not understand. She has to question her morals because she doesn’t know if what she is doing is the right thing. Antony is also a complex character. He is the prince of the people who colonize her yet he is portrayed as someone who wants to avoid war at all cost. He is kind at times, but calculating which is why he was such a confusing character to root for.

In terms of world-building, I do hope it gets expanded on in the next book. I couldn’t tell if the Romans were supposed to be from our universe and they decided to colonize another one or are both of these countries completely fictional.

Overall, I had an enjoyable experience reading this book, it kept me hooked throughout the story. I do want to see how the series will conclude and what will happen to Ruying and Antony.

It’s always hard to review a book like this. To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is a book mired in controversy; I can’t even post my review on Goodreads due to “unusual activity.” I’m going to be very careful in how I phrase my thoughts. As always, I’ve read this ARC in full and the opinions expressed below are my own.

I’m a fantasy girlie ™. It’s my most-read genre, my favorite genre, and the genre I turn to whenever I’m in the dregs of a reading slump. When you read a lot in one particular genre, you start to recognize its trappings. Specifically: young adult fantasy is simpler. The worldbuilding is less complex; the lore is minimal. Sometimes, this is basically fine. Other times, especially when the lore-building (or lack thereof) directly contributes to the strength of the conflict and character motivations, I find myself frustrated.

I’m bringing this up because I’m honestly not sure how to classify this one. Who is the intended audience here? Is this a book meant for adults or teenagers? On Netgalley, I can still see it categorized as “General Fiction (Adult).” Goodreads and Storygraph both list it as “Young Adult.” I’m inclined to believe this was meant to be adult and it’s now being marketed as YA in response to early reviewer feedback. See also: early press, which emphasized the “enemies to lovers” romance, has scaled back on that dramatically. 

Speaking of that romance — oof. I’m going to keep my comments short. Other reviewers have addressed this in depth. Whether or not it changes in future installments (Chang is contracted for a trilogy), book one, the book I’m reviewing here, is a romance. The way Ruying describes Antony is romantic. The way Antony describes Ruying in his POV chapter is romantic. I want to emphasize how important it is to check out BIPOC reviews, such as the ones I’ve linked above, for more on the “colonizer romance” trope, how it appears in this book, and why it’s harmful. The marketing may have switched to emphasizing Baihu as Ruying’s childhood friend-to-lover, but it’s right there in the description: “Can Ruying trust this prince, whose promises of a better world make her heart ache and whose smiles make her pulse beat faster?” Girl, stand up!

Aside from the romance, my biggest problem with Wicked Gods was the worldbuilding. Or, er, lack thereof. It took me nearly half the book to realize that the “Romans” were from a different world than Pangu. Ruying describes a “portal in the sky” which is somehow a portal to our Earth. How this portal appeared, and when, and why these “Romans” are in charge (or are they?) was unclear. We know from Antony that Earth is ravaged by pollution and climate crises, but whether this is actually true or he’s just lying to manipulate Ruying is fuzzy. There’s some potentially interesting stuff here about climate change and the disproportionate impact on the Global South, but it gets lost in the muddled conflict of “magic versus science” that dominates the book.

This is a book full of capital-C Choices. The “resistance” is led by a masked man called “The Phantom.” His followers wear iron opera masks. Antony mentions Caesar Augustus, Jupiter, etc., making it clear that these Romans are somehow related to Ancient Rome, but the hallucinogenic drug circulating in Pangu is “opian”, not opium, for reasons that aren’t completely clear to me. Ruying wields death magic, but the role of the pantheon of gods (those titular wicked gods) is muddled. At one point, Antony refers to the colonizing Romans as the “new gods” due to their superior mastery of science, and Ruying, despite being able to speak to Death, doesn’t disagree.

This is a book with problems. I don’t understand Ruying’s magic, I don’t understand the “magic versus science” conflict; I don’t understand the geopolitics; I don’t understand the geography. Despite all the infodumping in the first chapter, I don’t have any idea what’s going on. I’m not confident the author does either.

(Review will be posted April 8)

Not for me AT ALL. I feel like the author is trying just a bit too hard with trying to make things symbolic, that in the end it just becomes boring and almost like a chore to read. When reading, it felt like I actively had to read instead of just falling into the world and having fun with it. I don't want reading to feel like a chore or a job, and sadly this is what the book did to me. If this was a video game, you would be seeing me press the "skip text" option throughout the entirety of the game just so I can get it over with already. Books shouldn't make me want to skip pages upon pages of information and character interactions.

DNF @ 40%
I’m not the type of reader that will DNF a book but in this case I really just needed to put this down.
There were too many things going against TGUWG and not enough keeping me engaged.
To start, there was way too much info dumping. It took away from a plot with a lot of potential. I strongly believe that a truly good book embodies the “show don’t tell” in their writing.
The second thing that really bugged me was this odd use of Romans. I loved Pangu and their unique magic system. Pangu is virtually a fantastical version of Asia but then “Rome” seems like a modern day Earth. The use of “Rome” and “Romans” is very confusing since “Romans” brings the vision of the ancient Romans yet they have all the technological advances (and more) than modern day Earth. It just really took away from the story.
Thirdly, the storyline between Ruying and Antony is not the enemies to lovers that I was expecting. Antony may appear to have the right intentions but his actions and lack of empathy are truly appalling.
Overall, this book just really didn’t work for me. I think that it has a great premise but it was executed very poorly.
Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review